


Separation

by livinginnightvale (cloudsgrl)



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M, Spoilers for Episode 29, Subway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 22:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3358445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudsgrl/pseuds/livinginnightvale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by an event that occurred during the NYC trip initiala, octoberspirit, and I took for The Librarian show. If you haven’t gotten to Episode 29 yet, you’re going to have some serious spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Separation

Carlos the scientist stood just outside the subway gates, watching as numerous Night Vale citizens either paid the toll to get through, or exited through separate doors. His hands shook at the data his team received, the visual, metabolic, and dna panels only proving the hypothesis.

Their DNA is being washed out. Drained of all the contents and information therein. People were changing, becoming something else.

There was no way to determine how such an event occurred without attempting to ride it himself. Unfortunately, Carlos couldn’t bring himself to go through the gate. Science was important, but did he really want to die over this? People weren’t returning. People were disappearing or no longer being themselves. How was one supposed to go into such a situation with no fear?

"Ah! Carlos~" The voice had the scientist spinning on his feet to see Cecil standing there, still in full work garb, smiling brightly. "How did you get here?"

Carlos blinked. “I came in the main entrance. I’ve been here. You got my messages.”

"Oh." Cecil paused in thought. "A new entrance opened near the studio so I thought I would check it out."

The two stared at each other and then the subway gate in curiosity. That was theoretically exciting: multiple entrances led to the same location. Would that be warping space to make it work, or was it more of a field that Carlos hadn’t necessarily dabbled in?

Cecil perked up, “Well, I told my listeners that I would investigate, so I shall go.” Carlos watched the radio host in horror as Cecil pulled out the appropriate amount to get a pass, and jumped in front of him.

"I-I’ll go with you, in order to satiate my scientific curiosity."

"Great!" Cecil beamed, and ran his card through the pass reader. It did the pleasant jingle, and Cecil stepped through. Carlos fumbled for his own card and wiped it. A loud gong rang through the area with an error message.

"What?" Carlos tried again and again. And it wouldn’t let him through. Cecil stood on the other side, watching him with wide eyes. "It’s not… It won’t let me through."

Cecil reached for him through the gate, and Carlos took his hand. They stood in silence, with small pings and an incomprehensible voice over a PA system announcing the coming and going of trains.

"You don’t have to go on the subway," Carlos muttered. "It’s not too late, Cecil, you haven’t boarded a train."

"But… my listeners…"

"They can ride it themselves if they’re curious. You don’t have to. We have enough data to show that it’s dangerous, Cecil. What if you don’t come back?"

Cecil pulled Carlos’s hand to him through the gate and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “I’ll go for you. I’ll give you better data than all of them, I promise.”

And with that, Cecil let go of Carlos’s hand, and the scientist felt his heart drop.

"Cecil, please! Cecil!"

From his post just outside the gate, Carlos could see Cecil approaching the train boarding area, and attempted to swipe his card a couple more times, earning aggravated noises and sounds from the machine. Cecil boarded the train, and Carlos slowly let himself fall to the filthy subway ground.


End file.
